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UK MoD Officials Discuss Challenges and Priorities to Build a Modern Space Architecture at Global Milsatcom

By Mark Holmes | November 11, 2022

2022 Global Milsatcom Conference in London. Photo: Via Satellite

LONDON — Top officials from the U.K. Space Command and U.K. Strategic Command looked at how space could impact government operations going forward at Global Milsatcom in London this week. Officials spoke about security and challenges to make the most of the latest technologies and advances in space. Like their U.S. counterparts at CyberSatGov, the relationship between the commercial satellite industry and the U.K. government was a key talking point.

Collaboration and cooperation with the commercial satellite industry going forward is vital, said UK Space Command Group Capt. Andy Hindley, deputy head of Operations. He also spoke of the importance of making sure that UK Space Command can upskill its personnel to deliver the most from space technologies.

Barry Austin, Satcom Programme Manager, Defence Digital for UK Strategic Command spoke about some of the security aspects that the UK government needs to deal with. He admitted that it is getting easier to jam satellites, temporarily or for longer periods. He also believes ground attacks are now a particular vulnerability.

Austin said traditional thinking is changing from thinking of spacecraft as bent pipe systems. “We can use payload management. We need to manage processing in space. That is a real challenge for us,” Austin said. “The space segment is the part of the program I am least worried about. We have to figure out questions like what is the impact on the ground and user segment. This is the most complex area of the program. 75% of our program is on the ground. People forget the fact that the complex bit is on the ground.”

Investments in ground equipment and the latest array of terminals is top of mind. Austin added, “We are looking at replacing our current modems, land terminals, maritime terminals, etc. We are looking to go into a multi-band terminal. We are looking to move into a much more dynamic architecture. The reality is however, this takes time. For maritime just as an example, it would be a 10-year program from start to finish. We are trying to move this forward, and have a much more modern architecture.”

Blending approaches and assets is at the forefront of UK Space Command thinking. As it moves towards a more hybrid approach, building the architecture/infrastructure behind it will be one of the key challenges. “We know that we want to be moving data around in satellite links. We don’t want to be the Betamax in doing this,” said Austin.

UK Strategic Command Capt. Phil Coope, deputy head of Space, told the audience that the U.K. government brackets communications in three ways – high, medium, and low assurance communications. He talked of the importance of implementing the right infrastructures and end-to-end architectures. “We need to tap into the maximum level of capacity, and simplify processes. If you are looking at multiple systems, and pathways, you don’t want 15 different terminal solutions. We need to minimize this. We need to simplify the ground infrastructure and systems.”

Coope added that the UK Space Command is looking for more engagement with the international industry. He admits the U.K. government is looking to try and improve its information base, and that 2023 will be key as it looks to develop its next generation of capabilities.

Junayd Miah, science advisor for Command, Control, Communications and Computers with the UK Space Command echoed the theme of collaboration and spoke of working with industry and academia to bring about a more efficient use of space assets. He said “interoperability is key,” but that the U.K. government needs to be smarter in how it uses satellite tech.

“We have to be a bit smarter in terms of how we deal with data. With the ISR data, there are ways to save time and bandwidth,” Miah said. “We need to treat our data in a smarter way. The technology is something we need the industry to guide us on. There are also policy challenges. In terms of long-term challenges, from a satcom perspective, we need to make sure we have the capacity required. We need to look at the components we use, for example.”

He also echoed the earlier comments by Hindley regarding the people challenge. He said, “We need to make sure we build our people to make sure we have the appropriate skills within the MoD, to make sure we meet our future requirements.”

This is an exciting time in the U.K. space sector, whether in the commercial industry or in the military/government arena. The U.K. government will have more access to space-based data than ever before. It represents an exciting new era for milsatcom in the U.K.

Hindley said, “The data tsunami is everywhere. How do we fuse all of that domain data with intelligence data and get that to the right place? What do we choose to share? How do we share it? These are all significant questions. We have our commercial integration cell within the U.K. military, a nascent aspect of what we are doing. The policy, legal and agreements we can build up with allies and the commercial industry will all take time.”